Charles Dolan, known for founding Home Box Office, aka HBO, passed on Dec 28, 2024. He leaves behind a life of entrepreneurship and service. HBO has become a mainstay in Hollywood with continuous hit shows True Detective, Euphoria, The White Lotus, The Righteous Gemstones, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, Westworld, Barry, Silicon Valley, Band of Brothers, Angels in America, Watchmen, The Penguin, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, Fraggle Rock (yes, your eyes are correct) and even Babar. This type of high-level programming has led to countless awards and recognition for the network. Upon his passing, his family controls key media companies such as Madison Square Garden Sports, Madison Square Garden in NYC, MSG Networks, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, the Sphere in Las Vegas, BBC America, and AMC Networks. Dolan built Cablevision, a massive cable provider in the US that he founded in the early 70s, during cable TV’s infancy, which was later acquired by an even larger telecom conglomerate. He held a net worth of approximately $5.4B and made many large million-dollar donations to universities, even John Carroll University, which he dropped out of to start his foray into the telecom world.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he served during World War II in the US Army Air Corps. He was creative and business-focused by nature and upbringing as his father was an inventor who sold an early automatic transmission patent to Ford Motor Company. He started as a one-stop shop for the distribution of sports and industrial films that he made with his wife from their home in Cleveland. Once completed, the films were sold to TV stations for syndication. Next up, Dolan went to work for Telenews based on his abilities and entrepreneurial activities. Then he created Sterling Manhattan Cable Company which broke new ground as the first firm to install cable TV access in buildings. He negotiated deals with the Knicks and Ranges of New York that brought big professional games right into the homes of NYC residents via cable TV. Dolan envisioned providing exclusive movies and sports events to home viewers, which he made a reality. He rode the wave of Sterling for a couple of years before selling it to Time, which then became Cablevision Systems.
Dolan trailblazed further into the 70s with the founding of The Green Channel, which became HBO. He brought his vision for exclusive content to HBO, which he knew was going to be a success from his prior victories with Cablevision. Initially, HBO struggled with subscribers and he pushed forward with his vision. Time bought out Dolan’s share of HBO in 1974. He focused his efforts back on Cablevision and reached new atmospheric heights by reaching the New York suburbs and into other big markets like Boston, Cleveland, and Chicago. He continued to ride the cable TV wave and founded American Movie Classics in 1984 based on his HBO concept and success. Hit shows on AMC include The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and many more.
By the 90s Dolan saw more opportunities in NYC and bought a 50 percent stake in Madison Square Garden in 1994, home to the very teams he initially sold to cable viewers, the Knicks and Rangers. By 1997 he had bought the other 50 percent stake and was a full owner of the Garden. He diversified his portfolio by purchasing the SportsChannel, a New York-based chain of theaters, Clearview cinemas and an electronics retailer named The Wiz and Newsday. All of these were multi-million or billion-dollar purchases. Dolan and family then sold Cablevision to a French mogul-led firm, Altice for a crisp, cool $17.7B. Dolan also envisioned VOOM in the mid-2000s, which was 25 HDTV channels based on, the AMC Networks, which was the largest suite of HD channels worldwide. Unfortunately his concept was closed by the Cablevision board. Dolan married his wife, Helen, in 1951 and they remained married for 72 years when she passed in 2023. All in all, a highly success business and family life for a WWII veteran and bootstrapping entrepreneur.
